1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to trailer hitches. Specifically, and not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to manually aligning a gooseneck trailer hitch with a gooseneck trailer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is quite common to pull a trailer from a truck or other vehicle. Conventional trailer hitches for attaching a towing vehicle to a trailer are well known. Typically, trailer hitches include a socket on a tongue of a trailer and a ball mounted on a towing bar at the towing vehicle. During towing operations, the ball is connected to the socket on the trailer tongue. Such a conventional towing configuration, which uses a towing bar on the back of the vehicle, is acceptable for weights up to 10,000 pounds, depending on the type of truck and trailer hitch used. However, for towing heavier weights, a gooseneck trailer hitch is often used. Unlike regular hitches that extend from the back of the towing vehicle, gooseneck hitches, and the closely-related fifth wheel hitches, are anchored through the bed of a pickup truck. Gooseneck hitches use a hitch ball to lock into place, while fifth wheel hitches use a wheel-shaped plate to accomplish the connection. Besides their strength, gooseneck hitches are also popular because the types of trailers they pull are able to make tighter turns than the ones that connect off the back of the towing vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a common gooseneck trailer hitch system 10 for a truck 12. Typically, the truck includes a truck bed 14 having a gooseneck hitch 16 or ball anchored to the truck bed. The truck may tow a trailer 20 by utilizing the gooseneck hitch. Typically, the trailer includes a gooseneck towing extension 22 having a socket 24 for connecting to the gooseneck hitch 16. To connect the hitch to the trailer, the driver of the towing vehicle must move the towing vehicle rearwardly until the gooseneck hitch 16 is laterally aligned under the socket of the towing extension. However, it can be very difficult to maneuver the hitch into the proper position since the hitch is out of the vision of the driver. Additionally, it is sometimes difficult to align the hitch and trailer, even with the assistance of another person.
In order to overcome the difficulties encountered in properly aligning the gooseneck hitch and the trailer extension and socket with each other, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus which allows a driver to easily align the hitch with the gooseneck trailer, without the assistance of an additional person. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus.